| Orontea | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Antonio Cesti | |
 Libretto printed for the 1683 production at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice | |
| Librettist | Giacinto Andrea Cicognini |
| Premiere | |
Orontea is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the Italian composer Antonio Cesti with a libretto by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini (revised by Giovanni Filippo Apolloni).
The first performance took place in Innsbruck on 19 February 1656. Orontea was one of the most popular Italian operas of the 17th century. It includes well-known soprano arias such as "Intorno all'idol mio", "Addio Corindo" and "Il mio ben dice ch'io speri". It was revived more than 17 times before 1700, [1] including in Genoa, Rome, Florence, Turin, Milan, Bologna, Venice, Palermo, Naples, Hannover. [2] [3] Almost all of the score was lost, and the opera was forgotten. Several manuscripts were discovered in the 1950s. Modern performances started in 1961 at the Piccola Scala in Milan with Teresa Berganza and Carlo Cava , Bruno Bartoletti conducting. René Jacobs conducted a 1982 production in Innsbruck, and Ivor Bolton in 2015 at Oper Frankfurt. The work was first performed in Australia by Pinchgut Opera in 2022. [4] A new staging has been included in the 2023/2024 season of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, conducted by Giovanni Antonini, directed by Robert Carsen and Stéphanie d'Oustrac in the title role.
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast |
|---|---|---|
| La filosofia (Philosophy) | soprano | |
| Amore (Love) | soprano | |
| Orontea, Queen of Egypt | soprano | |
| Alidoro, a young painter | tenor | Antonio Cesti |
| Silandra, a courtesan | soprano | |
| Corindo, a courtier | alto castrato | |
| Creonte, a philosopher | bass | |
| Aristea, Alidoro's presumed mother | contralto | |
| Giacinta, disguised as a boy | soprano | |
| Gelone, a fool | bass | |
| Tibrino, a page | soprano | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
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